Tonight is the the 3rd and final installment of the Voice in the
voyage. It's been my great honor.
I love you guys. Again, this is my home church
with you all and there's, there's nothing like being
amongst your family and being able to minister the word of God
and see growth and development. I've, I've grown as much as you
have in this process. The study that I've been able to
do has been fantastic and being able to come in here and share
the word is a it's a great give and take for all of us.
The Holy Ghost isn't just speaking only to you.
He's speaking through me and I get to partake and it's an
honor. Apostle Earl's doing the work of
an apostle. Presently he is with our Port
St. Joe family that he's let us know
on Sunday. He's doing some administrative
things with them, meeting with them.
Powerful. God's moving.
Just 'cause you don't see outside of this place doesn't
mean he's not doing impactful, powerful things across the
nation. I mean, Anchor Faith Church,
whether you are present for every area or not, every day is
igniting the city, impacting the nation and influencing the
world. Even in other time zones, while
you're asleep, there's other time zones that Anchor Faith
Church. People are praying even while
even while Sunday, Sunday evening may be going on, there's
people that have already paved the way in prayer for what we do
on Sunday hours before we've showed up.
Amen. This I'm telling you I'm.
Honored to be part of this. I love my church tonight.
As we get back into jump back into this series here again to
give a little bit of a recap. The key text that we have for
for this this whole month has been James chapter 3 verses 4:00
and 5:00. James chapter 3 verse four and
five. It says.
And look at ships also. Though they are so great and
driven by strong winds, they are still directed by a very small
rudder that whatever the inclination of the pilot
desires. So also the tongue is a small
part of the body, yet it boasts great things.
See how a great forest is set aflame by such a small fire.
So. Every living person that that
has a beating heart in this place today has a destiny from
God. Before you were born, God knew
that you would be born and said, I have a plan and a purpose and
an assignment for them to accomplish.
He he's, he's not haphazard, God's not reactionary to things.
He has a a response to any kind of failure, but he also has a
plan before that ever takes place.
So whenever you were born, regardless of the circumstances,
you don't have to tell me whether your dad was there or
not there, whether your mom wanted or didn't want you.
Either way, the Heavenly Father wants you and not only wants
you, but needs you. He needs your assignment in the
earth. And not only does he need you,
but the whole world needs you to step up and rise up and become
who you were born to be. We've said before that, you
know, graveyards are the richest place in the world because
buried under that soil is the treasure of books that were
never written, songs that were never sung, paintings that were
never painted, lives that never got to be impacted because those
people were buried too soon, too soon.
But let it not be said of us that we didn't run our race as
hard as we could, that we didn't lay aside the flesh and find our
destiny and then do that. So where we can say, like the
Apostle Paul said in the end of his days, he said, I've poured
out my life like a drink offering.
That means he left it all on the field.
Man, I don't want to, I don't want to show up and have, have
the king show up in my face and I'm well rested when he gets
here. I want to have given out and
said I've, I did, I laid my life down.
I did my assignment. I found my purpose.
I did it with my whole heart, regardless of what people
thought about it, regardless about the, the, the things that
came against me. I persevered and did what the
King assigned me. But that's what goes on in the
lives of believers is that we are set out on this path,
especially when you get born again, you are set out on a
course that God, he's got a, he's got a map for you.
He's got the compass, He's got the destination all the
waypoints laid out. But it's your responsibility to
get there. And the thing that guides you
along the path of your destiny is your mouth.
See, we talk about the voice and the voyage.
There's two voices happening. One is the voice of the king,
the captain declaring, here's where you should go.
The second voice is your mouth guiding the rudder.
Your whole life goes in the direction of your mouth.
In the first week, we. Talked about the power of the
word and hopefully that, you know, there doesn't need to be
much more said about that. Do we understand words are the
most valuable thing in the universe?
Words are what the Creator of Heaven and Earth, the Creator
King, decided to use not only to create, but also to
administrate, establish, and rule through in our lives in
this planet. Still, nothing's more valuable
than words. The second week we talked about
the authority of our confession, what happens when we confess?
And I love that this has been a great time for us to come in and
not only have the the spiritual revelation from the word of what
it is, but also the practical application of how to do these
things. Because it's one thing, come up
and say you should have a good confession.
And that sounds very Christian, Christianese, I'm aware.
Not everybody has grown up in church.
Not everybody has read the Bible more than 20 times.
Not everybody has done that. So when you say things like you,
you should be led by the spirit, brother.
And they're like, what are you talking about?
Sometimes it's good for us to kind of take a minute and break
it down and explain what we mean by these phrases.
Same thing. Watch your confession.
Somebody's like, I didn't say anything to a priest in a wooden
room with a That's not what we're talking about now, our
confession. Is what comes out of our mouth
God created us to be a speaking spirit which means when we speak
authority is released identity is revealed we permit things in
heaven and earth we we you know begin to establish our character
and reveal our character it's a powerful thing every time that
words begin to. Be used so this third.
And final installment here, we're going to talk about
conversation because a lot of times we talk about positive and
negative confession, decreeing something.
If you get a bad report, what do you say?
How do I speak out words of faith?
But I find even in the Bible, and we'll look at a couple
stories tonight, but people can derail their entire purpose in
this planet through conversations with other people.
Just as much as a declaration of faith in a moment of need is
powerful and can release his authority, so also is a
conversation response to somebody sitting in your home.
Now it's important to realize and and we'll this will kind of
set the stage for the night. The voice that you value is the
voice you will echo. The voice you value is the voice
that you will echo. And when we.
Said last week, the Greek word for confession literally means
to say the same thing. So every time you begin to
decree something, declare the word of God.
Speak something. If you value the word the most,
that should be what comes up out of you the most.
Now you don't have to be again. Weird.
Give me a weird Christian. You don't have to respond to
everybody in a verse. OK?
Sometimes we can have to. Hey, how was your golf game?
I was blessed and highly favored of the Lord brother, and the
Lord showed up and his creation is gorgeous.
Don't just tell me you shot A-100.
That's all I needed. You're not that good.
He's blessed and highly favored and not your golf game is not.
We don't. We can have conversate, be
conversational, but know that the principles of our
conversation is what we gain from the word.
Not just the poetry of our conversation, the principles of
our conversation, but the voice that you value the most is what
you'll echo, which I can tell a lot by talking to somebody.
Wow, it seems like you value your opinion.
It seems like we can really break it down that nobody's
saying like they just want to repeat what the devil says,
right? Nobody's like, oh, I only speak
what the devil says. Nobody's going to say that.
But a lot of times people will be like really opinionated
themselves and want to tell you their thoughts on everything.
And they end up drifting their conversation into an area that's
not what God thinks, but just what they think.
So where they either don't know what God thinks about this
subject. Or they don't really care
because the voice they value the most is the one that they have
curated themselves from listening to a bunch of
podcasts, from listening to a bunch of coworkers, from
listening to a bunch of political leaders.
Sometimes when you're talking to somebody, you're like, where did
you get that? You ain't smart enough to form
that sentence. You're repeating somebody else
that you believe and value their words, that that is not even
true. People do this conversationally
about each other. Do you hear so and so?
Do you hear what so and so did? Well, they didn't hear it from
so and so. So they heard it from somebody
else and they valued it enough to start echoing it and
repeating it. OK, This happened in the land
that we know of Israel a couple thousand years ago, 3000 years
ago. Whenever this scenario happened,
we can look at the. Let's look at I'm just going to
appear for the sake of time. I'm going to tell you the story.
OK, I'm just going to tell you the story.
You have an obligation. Go look it up.
The book of Numbers, in fact, start in Genesis.
What you should do this week if I'm going to give you a reading
assignment like Apostle Marcy. Read Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers, and Deuteronomy all. Five books of the She normally
gives a small assignment. Don't read this whole thing.
This is the full context of the Torah, the Pentatuch, the five
books that Moses wrote. But in the midst of Israel
establishing themselves and being drawn out of Egypt, they
went to go into the Promised Land that God had shown them.
The whole reason they came out of Egypt in Exodus was because
God was delivering them to a new land.
They understood this well. They knew they weren't just
coming out to wander. That wasn't the goal.
They know God has promised us a place.
God. Not just Moses, it was clear who
promised them God. The undefeated never lost a
battle, ruler of heaven and earth, worker of all great
miracles that they had recently just seen a bunch of great
miracles. That's the God that promised
them land. So they knew what they were
getting into. They go out into the and they're
like God's leading us into a promised land.
So then Moses says, listen, go spy out the land and see what's
in it. He didn't say, and you can go
look at it for yourself. He didn't say, hey, go see if
we. Can.
See the the conversation that he heard?
He echoed What the. Lord said go.
Go in and spy out the land and bring back a report of what's in
the land. They knew what's in the land
belongs to us because God has promised us that we're going to
take this new land. So he sends 12 spies, one from
each tribe. They go into the land.
They start down at the very bottom.
They work their way all the way up to Lebanon.
They travel. It takes them a month.
To journey and go through and when they came back Moses is
like report what was it but we know how human beings are right
like y'all ain't that much different than people that lived
3000 years ago These people didn't just because we read it
in the Bible and it. Skips ahead.
This story does. Like when I say a month, they
didn't just walk in like robots and silently for one month only
look around and come back and I will report they talking.
In fact, it's a bunch of dudes hanging out together camping.
There's conversation every day, every night, and we can tell
what that conversation was. I wasn't there.
None of y'all were there, but we all know what the conversation
was by what came out of their mouth when they came back to
report. And that should be important to
note because I'm not in every conversation with people when
they're talking in their homes and with their families and with
their friends. But you can tell what they talk
about whenever they start to report to you about their life.
We don't have to be present. Oh, you weren't there?
But I'm here now and I hear what you're saying.
And that thought came from somewhere.
So then we get 10 of the 12 spies.
Majority come back the majority and they go there's giants in
the land. Great.
Also, we already knew that the land, if I'm going to get like
real Bible nerd for a second, the land they entered into is
called Kireth Arba. Arba is the most famous giant of
that time. He had a son named Anak.
Anak had three sons. This is all in the Bible, and it
says that they sang folk tales of the three sons.
Who can stand against the sons of Anak.
We already knew that. Moses already knew that.
So when they came back, there's giants in the land, Moses, like,
yeah, OK, So what do we see? They said we're like
grasshoppers in their sight. OK, let's use our brains.
Let's just say they were like 12 feet tall.
They're not even like the 9 foot ones like Goliath was.
They're 12 feet tall. Grasshoppers.
For that to be a mathematical equation, to actually be
accurate, No. What's happened?
I'll tell you I wasn't there, but I'll tell you what happened.
Somebody saw the giants and in fear said we're like
grasshoppers. And everybody's like, oh, that's
good. We are.
That's poetic. Oh my gosh, we're like, that's,
that's our mantra. We're going to go back and
that's what we say. Now there's two people.
Then apparently those conversations went different for
those other two people. And I'm just going to say their
names were Joshua and Caleb. Now, listen, I got a brother.
He lives in Georgia. His name's Caleb.
And I'm not saying, but I am saying we trust what the Lord
says. But if you notice, because of
their conversations, Joshua and Caleb had to also suffer for 40
years in the wilderness. Conversation is what caused them
to postpone their assignment. They didn't come back and say,
let's, you know, make a covenant and shed blood so that we can
make in a decree that we will not go in, right?
No. All they did was came.
Back and gave a negative report. They came in and complained
about what God said to their leader.
We're like, we're like grasshoppers on the side.
Like what can we do? Their conversation charted a
different course than was assigned to them.
Think about it. They were assigned to go on from
one place on a map to another, and because of conversation, it
charted a different course that took them a much further route.
40 years. What should have been 10 days or
less took them 40. Years to get there because of
their mouths. And they obviously had
conversation amongst themselves because those ten were in
agreement. Just because you get together
with friends and you start talking and get in agreement
about something doesn't mean you're right.
Also, it doesn't mean you're picking the wrong sides.
In the end there's not, oh, I agree with this person and this
person. Let's pick sides and whose side
are you on? I'm only ever on one side, only
one. And that is what is the word
say? What is God declaring?
Moses wasn't on a Moses side. Moses just agreed with God.
Joshua and Caleb didn't say we just agree with Moses.
No, they said what did God say? We agree we can do it.
So just for fun extra, you know, Bible nerd things that that
region with the giants. The very first battle they get
in, not whenever they they leave that and they're going to have
to wander. The first battle they get in
with a giant is this guy named Aug who's mentioned 30 times Aug
of Bastion. How do I know that 'cause I read
it. I read the Amplified Bible all
the way through Aug of Bastion. Aug of Bastion it says in
parentheses and not in parentheses.
That guy was known to be more than 13 feet tall, had a bed of
iron 13 feet tall, and was the most legendary well known giant
in all the land and was a king of a territory.
The first guy Joshua goes and fights and kills is the worst
biggest giant and they had to still spend another 40 years
walking around. Isn't that like God?
He's like you're afraid. OK, let's go knock out the
biggest, baddest one and show you how ridiculous your whining
was. If you can get this guy, you can
get the rest, but you're going to have to wait 40 years.
So in that region is the region of Hebron.
Well, there's a big mountain where Joshua and Caleb went up
and they saw it, and that region is where the giants lived.
Turns out that's the same mountain that 40 years later
when Joshua and Caleb go back into the promised land after the
Battle of Jericho. And they go in there.
Caleb looks up at a mountain and says, I want that mountain.
You know what mountain? That was the one with the most
legendary giants of that region. The sons of Anak lived there.
So Caleb, at more than 80 years old, went in and accomplished
what everybody else could have had.
They just had the same conversation.
I'm telling you, you got Joshua and Caleb in there.
They're. Oh, yeah.
They're like Moses is yes man. They're God's yes man.
God said you can conquer. And they said we agree.
If you aren't God's yes man, you're missing it.
What do you God's no man? That's terrible.
God declares something or decrees something in your life
or asks you to do something. You go, no, what?
No, that's the problem is we don't have.
It's not about having allegiance just to a person.
I've got an allegiance to a message.
I've got an allegiance to a word from the king.
I've got an allegiance to the king.
I'm a King's man. I don't care if you all disagree
in the end, I'm going to go back to the word and say if the word
says it, I believe it. That settles it.
I'm going to declare it and speak it out of my mouth.
So if you're like, oh, our conversations don't really
matter, you know, it depends on who you're talking to.
That's not the criteria. Your motives are ever present no
matter who you're talking to. Your words that come out of your
mouth carry the same authority every time your mouth opens, no
matter who you're talking to. Oh, I got my one friend.
I can vent to them a little bit. Careful with your venting.
Careful with your venting that it doesn't wind up you and your
friends showing back up with somebody and saying, well,
here's what the Lord said. Look, look at how we look in
their eyes. Be careful.
What derailed the whole nation for 40 years was just them not
agreeing with the king. And they were in unity.
I mean, you look at the Tower of Babel.
These people were in unity with their conversation.
So then God goes in and confuses the words they're saying.
You don't think words matter? That's the one thing that was
keeping their ungodly stuff together in unity.
People like, we should have unity.
Then why aren't we saying and echoing what God is saying about
everything? I find it interesting.
People will come and they'll be like, oh, hey, what do you think
about this? And I say that and they're like,
oh, Pastor Chase just told me the same thing.
Well, it's not 'cause me and Pastor Chase got together and
texted each other, Hey, what did you respond to this person?
I want to make sure that we're saying the same thing.
It's because we both know the words and whenever we go into a
situation, we look at it. We're like, here's what the
word. Says And they're like, all those
people disagree with each other. No, we agree with the Word.
What else am I going to say? What do you want?
Oh, you want my opinion? That doesn't carry power.
My opinion can send you down a course that would be detrimental
for both of us. What you want from me is what
genuinely carries the authority and power of God, which is the
word of God. But how do you feel about it?
Who? Cares stop.
Stop looking at how you. Feel.
If you surround yourself by a bunch of people that feel like
you, maybe you're going to be stuck there feeling that way
forever. If your words chart of course.
You're on be careful who you surround your body, because if
you get around people whose words aren't on the same path as
you, you're going to go with them.
If God's assigned a destiny to you, if he's assigned A mandate
to you in a in a purpose and you're on going in a direction.
I don't have an allegiance just to my old friendships because
we've known each other a long time.
I don't have a religion, an allegiance to blood relatives.
Jesus even said himself, listen, who is my mother and who are my
brothers? Those who do the will of my
father, which really what he could be saying in the light of
what we're saying here. Those who are headed in the same
charted path as me, if every time you're getting around this
friend and everything they're saying is the opposite of what
God's calling you to do and they're always just constantly
telling you, oh, you shouldn't do that.
Here's what God has in my heart. No, no.
At some point, when do you say what we covered last week and
Jesus looked at Peter and goes, get thee behind me, Satan, you
set your mind on man's interests, but I need somebody
to set their mind on God's interests if they're going to
talk to me. If you always just got man's
interests, I'm sorry if I'm not calling you all the time, I know
who I can call. The Bible does say in a
multitude of counselors their safety.
It does not say in a multitude of opinions their safety.
It is not saying a multitude of friendships their safety.
It does not say in a multitude of words their safety.
I know who to go to that will actually give counsel.
Counsel is somebody that says, let's look at the word.
What does it say about? This.
Somebody goes well, you know, someone's my cousin.
You know they, they did the same thing.
I don't want to hear it. I don't hear about your cousin.
I'm not your cousin. I want to hear about what is the
word say. So our conversations are
important. Let's look at this here.
It says in Proverbs chapter 13, verse 20.
There's so much in Proverbs about our words, about your
mouth. In fact, of of many of the
subjects in the Bible, I've found that your conversation in
your words is one of the top #1 addressed things in the New
Testament. When Paul begins writing letters
to the churches and letters to the pastors, he begins to deal
with them always, at every point, at some point, what
they're saying out of their mouth.
He told Timothy in his letter to.
Timothy as a pastor, he said. Set an example in your
conversation. Set an example in your
conversation. Proverbs 1320 says he who walks
with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will
suffer harm. Now from the biblical standpoint
of what character and what wise would mean, I think we can
deduce it doesn't have to say those who always have their
conversations right. It doesn't have to say that word
for word, but a wise man guards the gate of his mouth.
If you're walking with people who are continually just saying
whatever's on their mind and not guarding their mouth, they're
not wise. In fact, there's this statement
that's, you know, for a long time, you know, growing up in
church, there was like, I wanted to have quotes, you know,
outside the Bible for some reason.
It was the dumbest thought, but I there was, I was like, I want
to quote presidents. That'll be cool.
Abraham Lincoln has this awesome quote.
He's like even a fool can seem wise if he keeps his mouth shut.
Turns out that's not Abraham Lincoln.
That's Proverbs. All the best ones come from the
Bible. You don't got to look for
somebody else, OK? They're all either just
rephrasing something or going somewhere else.
So again, a fool can seem wise if he keeps his mouth shut.
Why? Because it reveals who you are
and what type of person you are the moment you open your mouth.
And you can try to pull the wool over everybody's eyes and say,
say the right thing. But you know what?
There's always a harmony. Between what you think, what you
say, and what you do. The moment one of those. 3 gets
out of alignment. You're a wacko.
You're an absolute wacko. What you think, what you say,
what you do. See, you can try to trick people
with what you say and say something, but what I can tell
what you're thinking because what you're saying.
Doesn't seem to line up, and what you're doing definitely
doesn't line up. So one of these three doesn't
belong. Or somebody's always saying,
saying, saying something, yet how they act ain't it.
That's weird. That's what causes unbelievers
to look at Christians to go they're fake.
That's what causes unbelievers to look at believers and be
like, Oh yeah, you know, they're what is the word they use for
it? Hypocrites, hypocrites.
Somebody that says they believe something, says they live a
certain way, but all the evidence points to you don't
what you think, what you say and what you do should be in
harmony. And in fact, that's a
progression, what you think is out of the.
Abundance of the heart The mouth will speak also.
As a man thinks in his own heart, so is he.
So those 2GO together as you think on the inside, your mouth
is going to say that. Then from there your actions are
going to line up. You're charting the course for
your. Life through what you say in
your conversation. Here's another negative example.
We won't be all negative tonight, but it is a warning.
Because it's no good for us to just get up and be like, oh,
confession, declare the word. It's all good.
It's everything's fine. And not give you a stern warning
and say hey, but be careful because if your mouth carries
what we said last week, life and death, as a pastor, I'm not
going to stand up here and say, hey, I'm only going to tell you
about the positive side. Whenever there's a danger of
death, I encourage my children. But if they started running out
in in front of a car in the street, I wouldn't go.
You're good. You're a great kid.
I love you. I'd probably give a word of
warning. Hey, that'll hurt you come back.
Hey, you're in danger. So we can't cover the
conversation of our mouth and not to look at both sides of
what's happening. In Second Samuel, again, I'll
kind of paraphrase this passage again, but we'll look at Second
Samuel 1516. This is where Absalom, the son
of David A. Member of the royal household,
an avenger of his sister. We already know a lot about this
guy by the time this verse shows up.
But he decided that he was going to sit out there and he had a
better idea of how to lead than his leader.
So he sits outside the city gate and it tells us he's sitting
outside the city gate and what he would do.
Is that the people would come to him and he would say, listen,
come tell me your problems. Tell me what it is.
These people were coming to this the gate to talk to the king.
But he said you don't need to talk to the king.
Come talk to me. Let me hear what it is first to
make sure that's what you want to you.
Don't you want to embarrass yourself?
Let me hear it. And when they told him, he would
say, listen, if I was king, I would take care of that.
But I know you don't even have to go to the king.
I know he's not going to. He's not going to listen to
that. The King didn't even get a
chance. King didn't even know.
Because this guy's sitting outside the gate.
And what does it say? It says.
And in this manner Absalom dealt with all Israel who came to the
king for judgement, so that Absalom stole away the.
Hearts of the men of Israel, you're like, how could God let
that happen? Who did God anoint as king over
Israel? David.
No, Absalom is in the royal bloodline.
I mean Absalom had every chance. He could have been king later if
he would have just not aligned with David, but aligned with
what David aligned with right? The word.
Had he just aligned himself with the word, then he could have had
every right to become king in his own time at the right time.
But somewhere selfishness and selfish motivation rose up in
him that he wanted to get in between.
What is the leader saying and what is you tell me?
Oh OK, Well, if I was. King, I would do that different.
See if I was a supervisor, you know we wouldn't have this
problem. Listen, don't don't go to
management yet. We all going to get in trouble.
You tell me what the problem is 1st and I'll I'll help you.
Danger. Danger.
What's your complaint? Tell me your complaint first.
The complaint department. It seems like the complaint
department of any organization or relationship is a cesspool of
revolution and an absolute cesspool.
Of sin I'll just say that it's against the word of the king
again it's it's one thing to deal with things in reality and
we talked about that last week there's a reality of some things
that could be taking place but at some point people when they
shift from what is the reality of our situation that needs
changed into. Let me just talk about what
needs to be changed. Let me let me give this this
side point scripturally if there isn't.
An issue and there are you are having.
Issues because the. Children of Israel, they're
having issues, They're real issues.
That they're trying to bring to the king.
But if you're having issues with other people, the biblical
standard is you go to them if they are violating the word, not
if they're making you mad. I've had it both ways.
I've I've done things and I'm like, oh man, I, I need to stay
on the right path. Somebody's like, hey, you, maybe
you're drifting. Let me come bring me some
correction. And here's what the word says
about it. I'm like, man, thank you.
And we're good there. There's been other times where
people come to me. And say I don't like how you
said that. OK, Did I say it in love?
It didn't feel like love to me. Well, did I violate scripture
somewhere? Did what I said wrong was my
motive. I mean, my motive towards you
was right. No, it just made me mad.
Well, this isn't a biblical come to your brother thing.
It sounds like you got to offense yourself.
Go deal with that yourself. And we're in the first couple
months of 2026. Deal with your own offense stuff
so we don't have to do this every year.
But if there is a genuine biblical issue, if there is a
complaint of in the Kingdom that is like somebody's violating the
word, then go to that person directly.
But the goal is restoration. The goal is I want to see you do
right, let's do right together. That's always the goal.
Then if they don't receive that, if they're like, no, I don't.
I'll take it. Then you take it up.
You take it to the leaders of the church and meet with them.
The Bible says that in the New Testament, New Testament church
right now, our dispensation, what we're doing is you take it
there and the goal is. Restoration.
How can we do God's will together?
Still, let's do God's will. Then if they don't receive it,
you take them for the church and say they they're doing wrong
according to the word. They won't receive it in person.
They won't receive it from from the leadership, they won't
receive it at all. Here it is.
That's not the goal. The goal is not to embarrass
somebody or do that, but in the end, the result of that, the
goal is restoration. So in any of these things, the
goal would be bring them to leaders, bring go to them and
have restoration take place. And that conversation is
wholesome. That conversation breeds
righteousness and it breeds unity amongst ourselves.
There's been many of people. I mean, I'm not going to have
you raise your hand because that's awkward.
But if you've ever been corrected, you know, I've had
correction from a brother in Christ.
I've had correction from pastoral staff.
I've had, you know, correction happen.
And it was only life to me. I'm thankful for any time that I
was addressed and said, hey, you're getting off.
Of what God's best is, you need to get back to God's best.
I'm thankful for that. And the goal was always to
restore. But I've also had people talk
negative about me before, and you know what?
Their goal was not to. Restore.
Their goal was just to bring light to He's wrong.
Regardless of whether I was or not, when the Love chapter,
First Corinthians 13 tells us pretty clearly about how that
conversation should go, it's not so much about just what you're
saying. It's also the motive on which
you say it. Because it says pretty clearly,
love does not rejoice in unrighteousness.
But rejoices with and the amplified is elated with the
truth. So you can tell through people's
conversation. The way like Absalom here, every
time somebody brought him a problem, he was elated in the
problem. That problem was an opportunity
for him to have conversation. See, love does not rejoice in
the unrighteousness. Love comes and says what can we
do? How can we go?
Fix this problem, but unrighteousness says, oh tell me
more what else is wrong and they start getting excited.
Oh see, I told you how Israel was man.
I told you how this whole place is, they they need something
going on different and snatch the hearts away from the people
and the king didn't. Even have a chance.
But what did God do about it? Was God fine with it?
So you've got so good. Why did he let it happen?
Because God doesn't interfere in the the administration of man
over planet Earth until He's permitted David.
Had the right to say Absalom had the right to do that in planet
Earth as a human being. But we see that that played out,
that the course that he was on, he could have been king, He
could have done right, He could have done something.
But the track that he was on was derailed.
That finds himself stabbed in the heart with darts.
By his uncle Joab. How did we get here?
His movie would start with a you may see me here.
You know, you're wondering how did I get this way?
Then it would rewind and show us the whole thing that I just
described. But his end result was because
he violated the word. He dishonored the leader, that
God. Put in his life, it doesn't
matter if it was your dad, God, who anointed David that's.
Right. I mean, this plays out multiple
times in the Bible. We even mentioned last week that
Moses and his brother and sister, this is a fam in her
family problem. They show up and God brings them
to the tent of meeting and says you've been complaining about
Moses. That means God was in their
conversations, and their conversation wasn't just one of.
Leadership. It was because he had married an
Ethiopian woman for he had married an Ethiopian woman.
That's what it says. I just quoted it 2 times.
They mentioned it. They were they were peeved about
it. Why are you marrying an
Ethiopian? They didn't like it, so whenever
they were together, I wasn't there.
But I can tell you what they were talking about in their
conversation. It was that he married an
Ethiopian woman and it had to be mentioned more than once because
they mentioned it more than once in the Bible.
I. Wouldn't have done that.
I wouldn't have married an Ethiopian woman.
Why did he do it? We.
Prophesied just like him, right? But like, don't, don't we?
Aren't we anointed of God like he, you know, he's God, chose
him. But what's he doing?
But God heard every word. Moses wasn't sitting outside the
tent going No, God heard it. God calls Moses and them
together. Moses is just like, sure, hey
what's up bro? What's up, sis?
And God goes. Why were you not afraid to speak
against my servant Moses It. Was a shock to some of them.
He didn't say Why were you not afraid to attack my servant?
He said. Why were you not afraid to open
your mouth against the one I anointed?
Your conversation has found you in your.
Tent spewing heresy and treason against my Kingdom.
That's why we couldn't talk about your mouth and not discuss
gossip because gossip is a two way St. that both ends have
treason. That's where it begins.
That's where it ends every time. Conversation.
Let me read you the definition of the word gossip here.
This is fun from the Oxford Languages Dictionary.
It is casual or unconstrained conversation or reports about
other people, typically involving details that are not
confirmed as true. I'll read it again.
It says casual. Or unconstrained conversation.
Or reports about other people, typically involving details that
are not confirmed as true. See, we should be people of
truth. Again, if we're echoing what God
says, we can go back to John, right?
John 11 in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. God and the Word are synonymous.
They are the same. The Word is God.
Then later he says, what is truth?
Thy word is truth. So if we were to be people who
speak truth and speak truth alone, well then why would we
entertain things that we don't know to be true?
Or not true. Amen.
I mean, Jesus said I speak nothing of my own initiative,
but only what the Father tells me.
The Father is who? John 11 in the beginning was the
Word. The word was with God.
The word was God. He says I only speak what God's
word says. That's my motive.
That's what I'm doing. I don't speak of my own
initiative. That means Jesus wasn't walking
around giving his opinion, throwing it out.
There's there's some believers that it's like they're holding a
sack of seeds and it's just their opinions and they're just
sowing their opinions everywhere wondering why their
relationships are hindered. Wonder why they got why?
Why does it seem like everybody's frustrated at me?
What? What are you sowing?
If you're sowing truth, people can be mad at you because of
truth, and Jesus said I'll vindicate you there.
But if you're sowing your opinion and people get mad at
your opinion, hey, you're on your own.
I don't want to be out of here all alone.
I want to do things with God. We're just saying Hallelujah, I
am not alone. But you understand you can get
in a place where you ain't with him.
He's not leaving you alone, but you can get yourself out
somewhere. You left him think about Adam
and Eve, that God was with him, walking with him in the cool.
Of the day. And then the snake.
Pulled up a chair in their living room.
So let's talk. About what you've been doing.
Where you at? What are you doing for God?
Are you tending the garden? OK, You naming the animals?
Elephant. That's what you came up with.
OK, that's fine. What did God say about this
tree, though? We.
Weren't dealing with an elephant in the room, we're dealing with
a tree in the room, something that they knew God has
commissioned me and decreed to me what I should do with this
tree. He.
Said let's talk about this tree. What'd God say?
He said. God said don't eat from it, the
devil goes. What's going to happen?
If you do, it's all right.
We'll die you. Won't die.
It'll be fine. You look at it.
Look what it could do for you. Look what it could do for you.
If you hungry, you could eat from this.
And in that little conversation. We begin to derail because what
we think and what we say and what we do should be governed by
the word. But in that moment, what Eve
thought, it says that she saw the tree was good for food and
desirable to make one wise. That's a thought.
And then she said, and then all of a sudden she ate.
And in this trifecta of a think, say and do, she derailed because
somebody said something that she believed more than the word.
Like why was the failure in the garden so bad?
Because her allegiance shifted from the king to the enemy.
Your conversation always reveals your allegiance.
Always. Amen.
And far be it from anybody at Anchor Faith Church to ever show
allegiance to something other than the word Amen.
Even in conversations with brothers and sisters.
You say you. Hear what they did to me.
My allegiance isn't me trying to pick sides with Kirk because,
you know, somebody over here was mad at Kirk.
I'm not trying to pick one of their sides.
My side is always, what does the word say about it?
Oh, you're just loyal to him. I'm not loyal to a man.
I'm loyal to the mandate. I'm not loyal to a person.
I'm loyal to a word. When gossip takes place, it
betrays trust when it is spoken and it betrays integrity when
it's received. It's a two way St.
Make no mistake, if you can't guard the conversations in your
home, you have no control over your home.
If you can't guard your conversations at coffee.
I didn't say anything, but did you hear everything with no
response? We talk about the power of words
and you. Set there silent, we talk about
the authority of a believer, the word of God that could rise up
in you and you. Hear treason of the Kingdom and
just listen and think the king is going good.
I'm. Good.
I'm glad. It's OK.
Who's going to speak for the King?
God's always. Looking for somebody who's going
to declare my word if the if God's word being spoken into the
earth permits his will to be done in the earth, he's always
looking for somebody who will speak my word over a situation.
You know, we can talk about how boldness.
Gets you to declare the word and we said maturity keeps you to
knows when to keep your mouth shut.
There are times to keep your mouth shut, but there's also.
But don't ever get those mixed up because God.
Forbid we actually say. Something when we shouldn't or
we shouldn't, and then we do. Wait, God.
Forbid that, we say. Something when we shouldn't say
something or we say silent when we should have been declaring
the word. There's, there's, there's a lot
of times somebody want to, you know, even if somebody's come to
me about my, my wife or my kids and oh, you know, try to sow
seeds of discord and oh, what are they doing?
Hey, shut, shut your mouth. You're not bringing that to me.
At times people have come to my about my friends, you know?
Oh, your friend, it seems like they, you know, they're always
doing this, you know, how can you, how can you always hang out
with them? Shut your mouth.
This is not a conversation for me.
I've found that over the years people don't come and bring me a
bunch of gossip. Maybe they scared I don't get a
bunch. Of phone calls, of people
saying, hey, let's, let's hang out.
Let's I want to tell you about what I think's wrong with you
and and all the people you hang out with.
They don't do that because I know my response is not going to
just be. What I think my response is
going to be the word. What does the word say about it?
So let's look at what the word says about this subject.
We're going to do like some rapid fire like Apostle Earl
does. I love it.
And he's like, we're going to do some rapid fire.
It doesn't mean I'm going to talk fast.
I'm going to try to talk slower. I'm I'm aware that I can speak
at, you know, 400 words a minute and Gus's up to 1000.
I'm aware there's some verses what we want to put up on the
screen and look at these. Psalm 1015.
What does God say about gossip and conversation?
Psalm 1015. Nope.
Yes. Psalm 1015 Whoever slanders his
neighbor, him I will destroy. Good Lord, we just jump right
here. Whoever slanders his neighbor, I
will destroy him. He will be destroyed.
That's what the Lord is saying. OK, let's look at another one.
James chapter 4, verse 11, James 411, coming out of the same
passage as our key text. It says do not speak against one
another, brethren, for he who speaks against his brother or
judges, his brother speaks against the law and judges the
law. And if you judge the law, you're
not a doer of the law, but a judge of it.
Now he's not saying don't judge. That's one of the most
misconstrued, understood things from the Christian walk and from
the biblical text. I'm like, don't judge.
I've never heard somebody look at me and go don't judge me.
That wasn't wrong. Because David had the opposite,
he said. God search my heart and all my
inward parts and see that there's any way in me that
displeases you. A righteous person once says
judge my behavior. When somebody goes don't judge
me, I say there's something in there that needs to be judged
then but also. You lying, you judge everybody.
We're all always judging everybody.
I feel like I don't. I'm holy.
No, you're not. You're judging what I'm saying
right now. You're making the determination
right now in your heart about what I'm saying.
When I stood. Up here, you judge.
Whether or not I had hair or not, everything we're doing, we
are taking in information and words that are being said and,
and pictures that paint words in our minds and we are turning
those over in our heads and making determinations about
them. That's what we are doing.
So don't judge my behavior. You asked me to turn a blind eye
to what you're doing. I'm not going to do that.
I'm not blind. What you've done is that is
you've violated the scripture. Don't judge me.
I can't pass your final judgement.
I'm not God. This is not a white throne.
This is just a pulpit. I'm not telling you whether or
not you're going to be in hell or not.
That's not what I'm I can't pass.
Cast a final judgement. Well, what I can judge is say,
hey, you were a jerk to the waitress and you should probably
apologize because you represent me.
We'll be sitting. At this table together and I
feel awkward because you just yelled at them.
Don't judge you, I am judging. Be nice.
Look at another passage, Ephesians chapter 4, verse 29.
Let no unwholesome. Word proceed from your mouth,
but only such a word as is good for edification according to the
need of the moment so that it will give grace to those who
hear in our conversations. They shouldn't just become this
muddy situation of hearing a bunch of negativity.
No, as Kingdom people, we bring solutions to problems from the
Word. So in the end, the goal is that
we would not let unwholesome speech come out of our mouth,
but that we would be able to edify in the moment and give
grace. What is grace?
It is not the big cover up, but grace is God's empowering
ability to bring change and life.
So whenever you speak to somebody, whether regardless of
what they've said to you, your response should bring grace and
empowerment for it to become right, become restored, become
whole. If you just sit there and agree
and go, yeah, that's all bad, you're selling yourself short.
God wants Kingdom people to show up and bring life in every
conversation they have, but that life is only found in the Word.
It's not in how you feel or what you've experienced.
We'll we'll go over 5 things that gossip does.
I want you to take some notes, write down these references.
I'm going to read them. They may not be on the screen
'cause I'm going to read them. This is our rapid fire.
Part of the rapid fire part. Number one thing that gossip
does is separates and breaks relationships.
Proverbs 1628 said a perverse person spreads strife and a
slanderer separates close friends.
A perverse person spreads strife, and a slanderer
separates close friends. Proverbs 17 nine says one who
conceals an offense seeks love, but one who repeats a matter
separates close friends. One who repeats a matter.
You can hear something that's a matter.
And then when you go, Oh, did you?
Hear what so and so said, have you?
Gone to so and so. Are you repeating something or
did you actually go to them with the goal of restoration?
If your hearts that that person would be restored, then you
would start immediately in the biblical process.
If they brought it to your ears, go to the person.
And I found when God's people are doing the God's people thing
and we're locking in love and doing the right stuff.
That's really the only that's the only one we got to do.
Go to your brother and normally they'll be like, here's the
word. I believe the word.
Let's get right and they get right and move on.
But he who repeats the matter? See if somebody's like, oh, you
know, hey, I went to our brother the other day.
I asked him to get right. He got right.
But you know what he did? Hey.
That ain't love. Why are you repeating it?
You spreading strife and now you've gotten this person having
to think about what your brother did, not trying to cover up.
You didn't cover up. You went to them and you dealt
with it and they got themselves right.
And in first John 19, they confessed their sin and God was
faithful and just the forgiveness of their sin and
cleanse them from the unrighteousness and now it's
made whole. Why are you talking about it
still? Slanderer, friend, Separator,
evil. Don't judge me, I'm.
Judging you. You did it.
You did the evil thing. You repeated a matter.
That was dealt with shame, shame, shame, shame.
Why do I feel shame? Because you.
Deserve it because you violated the word.
So now we got to go to you, brother, and say, hey, brother,
you violated the word. You repeated the matter.
You shouldn't have done. You should have guarded and
protected them. But let's restore you.
And then you bring them back into fellowship.
And you don't go out and tell somebody else what so and so did
about so and so. It's a vicious cycle.
You say it is. Yeah, I'm telling you.
Our local coffee shops get the brunt of it.
Come meet me for coffee. Careful.
I don't know. Maybe.
What do you want to talk about? Tell me that first.
Send me. Send me some bullet points.
I. Don't know, they'll just want to
have free unencumbered conversation with you about
people. And again, it's not an issue of
talking about people's lives. Listen, nothing brings me more
joy in life with my calling than people.
Also, nothing has brought me more sorrow in my life than
people. But when people are like, oh,
it's, you know, brilliant people.
I don't know what these quotes are.
Sometimes they come through the Facebook or something.
It's like brilliant people only talk about ideas and weak people
talk about people. OK, that's not true.
I love people, I want people made whole, I want people
restored. But what you say about the
people is what matters. If you're talking about people's
problems, OK then you you're weak.
But that's not scripture anyway. It's just a meme.
Just because it's letters put on a picture that's cool does not
mean it is truth. Just because five people shared
it to you does not make it more true.
Just because it has 20,000 likes does not make it biblical truth.
Oh my goodness. Gossip spreads.
The second thing it does it
spreads. It's addictive.
Listen to this Proverbs chapter 18 verse 8.
And This is why you got to be warned, because it is addictive.
If anything, if any concept in the Bible has MSG sprinkled all
over it, it's going to be gossip.
It says Proverbs 18-8, the words of a whisperer.
The words of a whisperer. Are like a dainty morsel and
they go down into the inward most parts of the belly or of
the body. They're like potato chips.
There's no nutritional value here.
You eat too much of it. It's it's not good for you, but.
Somebody's like, you want a chip, sure.
And when you eat the first one, what happens?
You can't stop. And then you ate the whole bag
and you're sitting there with an empty bag and shame.
But that's what the same thing gossip is whenever somebody.
Comes in and goes, hey, you want to know something?
Hey you got the option seal the. Bag.
Put it in the pantry. No, I don't.
Otherwise you go. What?
Is it? Hmm.
What else you know? And then you leave no one on the
inside. Something ain't right.
Then you got to start justifying.
Well, I guess, you know, we do care about these people.
And I do want to know about all the problems in our life.
And I guess we could do something.
Maybe at some point I'll pray for them.
And you ain't praying. You needed to pray before you
had. The conversations what you
needed to do third thing gossip does gossip sustains conflict
longer than it should. Gossip sustains conflict.
The Proverbs chapter 26 verse 20 says for a lack of wood, fire
goes out, and where there is no whisperer, strife quiets down.
See, something can be dealt. With by the Word, somebody can
be restored in their church and their family.
Somebody could have made a mistake but then be made right.
But then the. Whisperer walks around.
Yeah, but did you know what they did?
Can you believe that though? Really.
Hey, I heard they I heard they got it right.
They did, but Can you believe they had to get it right?
Shut your mouth, you ain't sitting in my living room saying
all that. What does God say about it?
They're saying they've been forgiven.
They did it. They've their sin is as far as
the East is from the West. Let's move on.
That's nasty. Strife only survives on
repetition and whispering and remembering.
OK #4 we already was that number three.
Yeah #4 Gossip reveals character Proverbs 11/13 One who goes
about as a slanderer reveal secrets, but one who is
trustworthy conceals a matter, one who goes.
About as a slanderer. Reveal secrets.
Hey, you want to know secret? I don't know, but probably not
from you. I've heard you talk before.
I don't want to know your secrets.
You got like a word secret. You got a mystery.
You want to reveal a revelation of what God's doing.
Are you about to tell me about? So and so I don't want to hear
that. Don't tell me your secrets,
especially if your breath stank. Don't become whispering at my
face with your stank breath and your stank conversation.
OK? The fifth thing that gossip
doves. Gossip is able to be stopped by
you Proverbs 17/9 again, he who we read this, but Proverbs 1791
who conceals an offense seeks love, but one who repeats a
matter separates close friends. It can stop with you.
You can say we won't go any further here.
We won't talk about that thing. And again you're like, what does
this have to do with confession? Everything.
Those are the conversations that
derail your purpose. Those are the conversations that
derail your relationships. Those who God's entrusted into
your life to oversee your soul. Those who's God's entrusted.
In your life to come alongside you as your contemporaries and
your friends and your colleagues, those people's
those, all of those things can be.
Ruined by you being untrustworthy, being evil in
your conversation. It matters.
So what can we do? Find a point we make tonight as
we can repent because of again, if our our life is governed by
what we think, what we say and what we do.
That's why Jesus's first words in ministry were repent.
That means change the way you think.
You cannot change your conversation.
You cannot change your confession and your decree
without first changing the way you think and what you think
about. There has to be a harmony
between the thoughts in your mind, the words of your mouth
and the things that you do. So look at these, these 4 verses
and then we'll close. Hey, you need it.
OK? You ain't showing up at Anchor
Bay Church, not getting a bunch of scripture.
What do you want me to get up here and just tell you stories?
I'm giving you the most valuable thing you're going to get all
week. So sorry, not sorry, Joshua.
Hey, turn there. 1/8 says this book of the law shall not depart
from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so
that you may be careful, careful to do according to what is
written in it. So what are we to meditate on?
God doesn't just say don't think bad stuff.
No, He tells you what to think. Think on the Word Psalm 1,
verses 2 and 3. Psalm 1-2 and three.
It says, But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in the
law he meditates on it day and night, day and night.
I. Had a bad dream?
What were you thinking about before you went to bed?
Were you stressed? Because of work, were you
thinking about people's lives and situation?
Where you thinking about what somebody told you?
Or were you meditating on the word?
Because I'll tell you something the word says about your sleep.
It says that he will give his beloved sweet letter sweet rest.
If you don't have sweet rest, it's because maybe you're not
tapping into that promise of God.
I was. I was always stressed.
You ain't meditating on a word. The word ain't bringing you
stress. OK?
Second Corinthians 10/5. Second Corinthians 10/5.
It says taking. Every thought captive and
bringing it against the knowledge that is against the
knowledge of God and taking every thought captive and
bringing it into obedience with Christ.
So every thought that comes to you lining up with the word, let
your allegiance be shown in what you line your thoughts with.
You're not going to say God things and not be thinking God
things as well. Out of the abundance of your
heart, your mouth speaks and as you think in your heart, so
argue. So those two things tell me
what's in your mind and in your heart is what's coming out of
your life. So the last scripture we'll look
at tonight, we'll close with this one in Philippians chapter
4, verse 8. Philippians 4 verse 8 says this
finally, brothers and sisters. Now this is written to a church.
This is in our time. This is written to you and me.
Are we brothers and sisters? He says, now listen, brothers
and sisters, finally, whatever thing is true, whatever is
honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is
lovely, whatever is commendable, think about these things, Dwell
on these things. The first one it mentions
whatever is. True.
Remember what gossip does. Remember gossip is it's, it's
having conversations about things that aren't really even
verified as truth. Then I'm not even going to think
about it or talk to you about it.
Bring me facts. Bring me truth.
Is it honorable? Bring me honorable.
Bring me what's lovely. Give me a good report.
You don't have to always bring me negative.
You didn't text me back. You didn't text me, right?
I left you a voicemail and I didn't listen to it.
I know what you said because your character showed out
through your conversation. Was it pure?
Was it true? Was it lovely?
Was it wholesome? Was it a good report?
That's what I'm supposed. To be thinking about and
dwelling on. And when you dwell on the word
of God and you let the truth always manifest in your life and
your conversations, then you'll begin to just speak the truth
and you'll be known as a person of truth.
We have everything we need, everything to live victoriously.
We have everything we need to live with peace on the inside of
us. But if we.
Derail our mouth. If we think on the wrong things,
then we can find ourselves washed up on foreign shores.
If you bring this whole thing around and say there's a voice
in the voyage, your voice and his voice need to be both
declaring the same path. And again, this can only happen
if you're in the Kingdom. Otherwise you sail in circles.
The only way to get in the Kingdom is to confess with your
mouth. That's the first thing to make a
covenant with your mouth that Jesus is Lord.
He's supreme in authority. He's the ruler of your life.
He's the captain that guides your steps and your
conversations. That's Lordship.
If Jesus and his word aren't guiding your conversation, he's
not Lord. Don't judge me.
You don't know my relationship. I.
Hear your. Relationship.
Jesus ain't saying that. But on the flip side, us here at
this church, the majority of us, man, we're loving God.
We're moving forward. I can tell Jesus is your Lord
because you speaking truth, you're speaking life.
Whenever a trial comes, you're not falling all apart, you're
speaking the Word. Why?
Because that's the way God designed it.
We're to be believers that all come together, rally together
and have the same battle cry, which is what does the word say?
And that's what we repeat.